This invention is directed to a game wherein a plurality of objects are present which are capable of being launched toward a magnetic target member and if correctly launched on the right trajectory capable of being captured by the target member and being made magnetic. The first of these objects which is captured by the magnetic target member then serves as the target for a subsequent object which, if successfully captured by the first of said objects, then in turn becomes the target for the next object.
The magnetic force between a magnetic object and a ferromagnetic object serves man both as a tool in items such as compasses and magnetic cranes and also as a mystifying force which can be incorporated into games and the like. Many games exist which utilize magnetic forces as a principal basis of the game. Included in this group of games are target games such as those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,562,089 and 2,477,531. In these two patents small magnetic missiles are propelled toward metallic targets. U.S. Pat. No. 3,091,464 complicates this target principle by having the metallic target spinning.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,903,264 improves a board type hockey game by making the puck magnetic which thus allows the puck to not only be flipped by rotatable players, but also to be drawn toward the metal player by the magnetic force between the puck and the player. U.S. Pat. No. 2,470,159 describes a game mimicking a baseball game wherein movable metallic posts representing the team on the playing field can be positioned by moving one or more levers in order to attempt to capture a rollable member representing a batted ball which has a magnet incorporated within it.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,807 differs somewhat from the above mentioned patents in that in this patent the repulsive force between two similar poles of two magnets are utilized to move one of the magnets through a maze-like pattern. British Pat. No. 198,537 utilizes electro magnets to attempt to capture an object moving in a circular path above the surface of the electro magnet. U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,830 utilizes a magnetic pencil to move iron filings over the surface of a picture to create comic faces on the picture.
A very early patent, U.S. Pat. No. 581,678 describes a game wherein a magnet is rotatably mounted in the center of a raised platform and a ferromagnetic object in the shape of a sphere is directed through a plurality of grooves with the object being to capture the sphere with the magnet. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,308 describes a game wherein a small magnet is launched toward a large circular magnet with the object being to capture the small magnet on the surface of large circular magnet in such a way that the small magnet spins about the surface of the large circular magnet.
While all of the above games are based on the principles of magnetism none of these games are directed to a game wherein once a ferromagnetic object is captured by a magnetic target the ferromagnetic object then serves as a subsequent target. This principle allows the target to be variable, unpredictable and therefore the type of game which both stimulates and holds the player's interest.